All-in-one Review thread

[altuixde]

PhotoSweeper

This is another piece of Mac software that I found useful.  PhotoSweeper helped me find duplicates in my iDOLM@STER image collection, as well as my anime image collection.  I bought it for $10 US but I kinda wish I had waited until recently, because it's on sale now.  The sale probably ends in just a few hours, though (which is why I don't have time to make this review very review-like).  There's also a completely free piece of Mac software that does the same job, called PixCompare, but PixCompare doesn't work on PNG images.

[Elixir]

I beat Atelier Ayesha and here are my thoughts.

[altuixde]

SynthCam

SynthCam generates photos using your iOS device's video mode.  One of the things you can do with this app is take photos (of stationary objects) with much less noise than when using a single exposure.  This is a real boon for iPod touch 4th gen users.

Here's a SynthCam photo:


And here's a photo of the same thing taken with Apple's built-in camera app:


Oh, and it's free.

[Scotty]

Impressive. I'll give it a go.

[altuixde]

Audioengine 2 speakers

I've had these for two weeks now. They may have been improving with burn-in, but I can't remember what they sounded like immediately out of the box, so I'll just talk about what they sound like now. I have these speakers placed behind my desk and elevated; I don't know what they would sound like if they were on my desk. What I like best about these speakers are the highs. Every S is there, but they're never sibilant; perhaps it's because of the silk dome tweeters. There's also plenty of sparkle. The mids sound fine. The lows don't extend down as deep as they do on my Sony MDR-V6 headphones, but that's to be expected with small to medium sized speakers. I'm using a loudness control as an EQ to increase the bass in imas-like music. One problem is that, on my favorite CD (when I don't use any effects or EQ), a certain string on a harp seems to come out much louder than it's supposed to. To be specific, the note is E3, or about 164.81 Hz. Another problem is that when I tried hooking up my iPod directly to the speakers, they put out loud noise, and I hadn't even started playing music. It's probably because I didn't have the iPod grounded by a charging cable. Hooking up the speakers to my computer or an AirPort Express works fine, though.

[altuixde]

iStabilizer Flex tripod review:
There are some great camera apps out there, and some of them require a tripod. This is the tripod I settled on, and so I asked for it as a Christmas gift.

	An iPhone 4 in a case will fit in this tripod. The legs are covered with soft foam and are flexible, but I can't see whether there are joints under the foam or if the flexibility is due to bendable metal. If the latter is the case, then I predict that the legs will break after bending them enough times (like bending a paperclip).
	The mechanism that holds on to the smartphone is a spring loaded clamp. It looks like it could accommodate a device that's almost twice as thick as the iPhone 4.
	The contact at the bottom of the clamp is about 1.75 inches wide and made of spongy material.
	The contact at the top of the clamp is about 0.25 inches wide and made of rubbery material. Since it's so narrow, and the clamping force is quite high, this makes me think that it's going to wear off the coating on my iPhone's case. The little rubber handle you're supposed to use when mounting your smartphone feels like it could be unintentionally ripped off, considering the amount of force necessary to open it. So, instead of using the handle, I push it open with the smartphone itself, and then twist the smartphone into place.
	The main joint is a ball and socket joint, and its resistance is adjustable. I think that this joint is the best feature of this tripod.
	There's also a notch in the socket, to get more extreme angles.
	The bottom part can be unscrewed and attached to my ancient Sony CyberShot camera.
	The screw that attaches to the camera is probably a standard tripod screw. So it should be possible to use the top part (the clamp) to attach a smartphone to other tripods that have the same screw. The screw looks like it's made out of plastic, so it may be fragile.

What concerns me the most about this tripod is the high clamping force that it exerts on an iPhone + case. Other than that, it works well. It's very light so it's very portable. Also, it will fit more than one kind of smartphone, so it probably won't be obsolete after upgrading to a different phone. I think this tripod is a decent option for smartphone photography enthusiasts.

[chikorita157]

Beaten Atelier Totori Plus and here my thoughts. In short, it's a fun game, but have a few technical flaws. Hopefully the same issues won't show up in Atelier Meruru Plus, which I preordered a while ago.